Final Essay: Literature 2009

Christmas Carol: Teaching Young Children

There are many ways to introduce reading into EFL classrooms. Most of the time this is done with students who have already a little background knowledge of the target language. The purpose of this essay is to show that young children also can be introduced to the process of reading by selecting appropriate books/stories and activities to work with inside the classroom. To accomplish this goal the activities will be developed according to a specific story "Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.

According to Bernice Cullinan, to become a good reader requires three main characteristics: they need to be surrounding by books, parents should read to children frequently and also, connect books with real life. This is the idea behind introducing reading into young children while they are starting to study English as a foreign language. This decision should include ways of promoting that reading can be enjoyable and helps develop understanding of the world.

Following this idea, Christmas Carol is a classic which can be shown to students in any Chilean classroom. It is a story which has as a main character Mr. Scrooge, a very greedy man who does not enjoy Christmas time. The story begins when his recently death friend appears as a ghost telling him that he will receive a visit during Christmas eve. There will be three ghosts which will show him the Past, Present and Future Christmas. After experiencing all these journeys recalling parts of his life, Mr. Scrooge understands the importance of enjoying Christmas and changes his attitude towards this holiday forever.

This story seems appropriate for young children and it will depend on the way teachers present this reading and activities that students enjoy this experience. Teaching young children requires an important amount of activities that contrast students short attention span, and include visuals and gesture in order to accomplish an effective understanding of the story. Therefore, in this part there will be presented three activities which have as goal to promote students' enjoyment and engagement before, while and after reading.

Before reading it is fundamental to establish rapport with your students and the story box seems a good activity to begin with. According to Rita Collins in his article "Using story Boxes in Language Learning" story boxes allow students to explore the objects inside the box which will help them to create some images before reading. This idea brings realia into the classroom as a way of giving students the opportunity to use their senses in their learning process. For instance, before reading this tale the teacher can talk about the objects inside the box; some of them could be a Christmas tree, some coins, a toy of a ghost and a picture of an old man. Then, the teacher can ask students questions about the objects such as what is this? Have you ever used/seen/touched the object? and so on. This activity permits students to think about these objects and see how they are or not related to their own lives. The idea is to prepare students to be more focus on the reading considering their background knowledge related to the story.

Reading activities should always consider students enjoyment. According to Robin Campbell when there is pleasure involved in activities, students will play and learn at the same time. This is a natural process where students get connected to their previous experiences. For this reason, reading aloud should be an activity to promote students engagement to the story. This activity allows the incorporation of dialogue between teachers and students; the teacher has the role of asking questions, using the illustrations to create an interactive class which consequently will encourage students enthusiasm and enjoyment of the story.

After reading and according to the characteristics of most young children it would be excellent to introduce art: for example, a collage. Creating a collage will permit students to express their ideas about the story by using pictures, words and any other material which can be cut from magazines and newspapers. Students are free to arrange their pictures in any way it shows their understanding of the story. This is an excellent possibility to share what they have done to the rest of the class and how they interpret the reading/listening of the story. For instance, they could bring pictures relating their own feelings towards Christmas day.

Reading for pleasure should be an activity presented in every single classroom. The constant exposure to books will promote students habit to read and express their ideas towards stories. Moreover, if parents and teachers give them the opportunity to relate them to their real life, reading will become an enjoyable activity inside and outside the classroom. Any type of stories could be appropriate, especially if we consider that most Chilean students do not read constantly. Teachers can use stories inside the classroom as a way of improving language skills and promoting different ways of resolving conflicts.

In conclusion, this paper tries to contribute in a way to include reading into EFL classroom because some teachers do not take the time to prepare or plan activities based on literary works. English teachers need to consider reading as a tool which increases the understanding of the target language. Meaningful activities will always engage students into learning and discovering more than what it is presented in class. Therefore, age and proficiency level should never be an impediment to the incorporation of variety of activities in the classroom. Teachers must trust students abilities. There are many ideas that can be introduced into the class, teachers only need to know their students, their interest and likes, and manage the English program and language proficiency in order to accomplish school, teachers and students goals.

Bibliography:

Campbell, Robin. Read-Alouds with Young Children. Newark: International Reading Association, 2001.

Collins, Rita. "Using Story Boxes in Language Learning". Forum 2009: 18-21.

Cullinan, E. Bernice. Invitation to Read: More Children's Literature in the Reading Program. Newark: International Reading Association, 1992.

Tompkins, E. Gain and Lea M. McGee. Teaching Reading with Literature. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co, 1993.